Deeside assistant carries over one-shot advantage

Reid nicks first-
round lead in
North-east
Alliance
championship

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

colin@scottishgolfview.com

Nick Reid, pictured right, leads the North-east Golfers' Alliance championship at the halfway stage after a one-over-par 69 by the Deeside assistant professional in difficult conditions for the first round at Duff House Royal Golf Club today.
Heavy rain delayed the start for the field of 97 and the combination of a muddy course, a cold wind and sanded greens - normal winter conditions on the circuit - were all against good scoring.

There were some competitors who thought that the Banff course was too wet for play but surely Alliance golf is Alliance golf.
What do they expect in the second week of March at any course in the North-east?
Reid deviated from par only twice. He drove the green at the 310yd first hole and two-putted for his only birdie in halves of 34 and 35. He was within sight of the clubhouse when he had his only bogey – a bunker visit at the 17^th.
Otherwise it was par after par after par.
"I had only one save that I can recall. That was a good up and down from a bunker for a fourth at the fifth. I almost holed out from the sand," said Nick.
"I've been playing well over the last few weeks and today was more of the same - hitting fairways, hitting greens. I didn't hole any putts but I don't think many putts of any length were holed. There was a lot of sand on some of them."
Nick knows he still has a lot of work in next Wednesday's final round at Cruden Bay to win the Uniroyal Quaich for the first time.
NARROW LEAD

He leads by only one shot fellow pro Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon) - who has been there or thereabouts for the past two or three Alliance meetings - and the consistent and classy amateur Craig Stephen, who plays off +2 at Meldrum House.

Cameron birdied the first and 12th but dropped a shot at the seventh and then ran up a double bogey at the 10th before dropping his fourth shot of the round at the 14th. He had halves of 34 and 36 for his 70.

Stephen was on course for a sub-par score when he stood one under par with six to play, having birdied the first, 10th and 12th and dropped shots "only" at the fourth and seventh.

But, like many others, he came to grief over the last six holes. Why were they so difficult today?

Craig bogeyed the 13th, 15th and 17th for 35 home and his two-over 70.

Only two shots behind pacemaker Reid on 71 in joint fourth place are five amateurs who will all fancy their chance of making a run at the title – former Walker Cup player Sandy Pirie (Hazlehead), "fresh" from finishing 10th in the Portuguese seniors open at the weekend, Scotland youth cap Philip McLean (Peterhead), Adrian Styles (Caledonian), Anthony Bews (Murcar Links) and Gary Esson (Portlethen).

PIRIE'S FOUR LATE BOGEYS

Pirie bogeyed the last four holes for his 71 from a one-under-par position on 15th tee.

Esson lost a play-off to Graeme McInnes (Murcar Links) for the play-off last year. McInnes had a 72 today, which means he is three shots off the pace. Graeme was inches from being out of bounds through the back of the 18th green and did well to one-putt to save par. Apparently, he came from five behind to force a play-off last year. I cannot remember that far back!

Duff House Royal's first hole is a very short par-4 hole but it would pay some players to play it as a two-shot par 4 rather than go for a big drive in the hope of starting with a birdie 3 or even an eagle 2.

Nick Reid did drive it and two-putted for a birdie. But David Corkey (Murcar Links) drove it ... and four-putted for a bogey 5.

Then there was young David Law (Hazlehead). At the weekend he was a member of the Scotland Under-18 squad who won a boys' quadrangular tournament title in France. Back down to earth at the first hole at Duff House Royal today for young David. He was bunkered greenside off his drive and took four shots to get out. On in 5, he two-putted for a triple bogey 7 for starters!

FOOTNOTE: Where have all the playing professionals in the North-east gone? Only nine played at Duff House Royal today, including the retired Ian Smith. A far cry from the days when to be North-east Alliance champion meant something to a North-east club professional.

Leading scores (par 68)
SCRATCH
69 N Reid (Deeside).
70 C Stephen (Meldrum House), R Cameron (McDonald Ellon).
71 A K Pirie (Hazlehead), P McLean (Peterhead), A Styles (Caledonian), A Bews (Murcar Links), G Esson (Portlethen).
72 D Garrett (Huntly), D Read (Banchory), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links), R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), G McInnes (Murcar Links).
73 W Main (Murcar Links), R McDonald (Inchmarlo), D Corkey (Murcar Links).
74 S Pert (Huntly), A Fiddes (Deeside).
75 A Campbell (Deeside), D MacKay (Newmachar), S Finnie (Caledonian).
76 G Bruce (Westhill).
77 L Taylor (Auchmill), A Nelson (Banchory), C Alexander (Murcar Links), M Lawrie (Kemnay).
78 A J Smith (Turriff), D Clark (Duff House Royal), A Grant (Portlethen), P Morrison (Oldmeldrum), D Leighton (Northern), D Raitt (Royal Aberdeen), M Lees (Pine Lodge).
79 S Scott (Auchmill), H Roulston (Stonehaven), C Carnegie (Kemnay).
80 C Nelson (MacKenzie Club), L Roger (Royal Aberdeen), R Pirie (Caledonian), D Law (Hazlehead), M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), A Milne (Kemnay), A Graham (Portlethen).
81 J Dalgarno (Hazlehead), S Davidson (Banchory).
82 F G Gray (Deeside), R Grant (Caledonian), N Parker (Murcar Links), D Nelson (Aboyne).
HANDICAP
Class 1 – D Read (Banchory) (4), D MacKay (Newmachar) (6) 68; A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2) 69; A Nelson (Banchory) (7), W S Urquhart (Murcar Links) (2) 70; A Styles (Caledonian) (scr), D Corkey (Murcar Links) (2) 71; W Main (Murcar Links) (1), L Taylor (Auchmill) (5), D Garrett (Huntly) (scr), S Pert (Huntly) (2), C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+2), A Grant (Portlethen) (6), M Lawrie (Kemnay) (5), P Morrison (Oldmeldrum) (6), D Leighton (Northern) (6) 72.
Class 2 – A Milne (Kemnay) (10) 70; D Moir (Murcar Links) 71; W D Rae (Kemnay) (13) 72; G Homer (Lumphanan (12), B Bavidge (Murcar Links) (10) 73; C Cassie (Nigg Bay) (9), N Chisholm (Kemnay) (11), J Wilson (Deeside) (10), M Ord (Royal Aberdeen) (11), T Collie (Kemnay) (10), G Thomson (East Aberdeenshire) (12) 74.

DUFF HOUSE ROYAL SCORECARD: Par 68
OUT: 4-4-4-4-4-3-4-4-3--34. IN: 4-3-5-3-4-4-3-4-4--34

Colour Code: Figures in red are birdies.
Figures in blue are bogeys
Figures in black are double bogeys.

NICK REID 69
OUT: 3-4-4-4-4-3-4-4-4--34. IN: 4-3-5-3-4-4-3-5-4-35
CRAIG STEPHEN 70
OUT: 3-4-4-5-4-3-4-5-3--35. IN: 3-3-4-4-4-5-3-5-4-35.
ROSS CAMERON 70
OUT: 3-4-4-4-4-3-5-4-3--34. IN: 6-3-4-3-5-4-3-4-4--36
PHILIP McLEAN 71
OUT: 3-4-4-5-4-3-4-4-3--34. IN: 4-3-5-4-5-4-3-5-4--37.
SANDY PIRIE 71
OUT: 5-4-3-4-3-3-5-4-3--34. IN: 4-3-4-3-4-5-4-5-5--37.

ANTHONY BEWS 71

OUT: 4-4-3-5-3-3-5-4-4--36. IN: 4-4-5-3-4-4-3-4--5--35

GARY ESSON 71

OUT: 3-5-4-4-4-3-5-5-3--36. IN: 4-3-4-3-5-5-3-5-3--35

ADRIAN STYLES 71

OUT: 3-4-4-5-4-3-6-5-3--37. IN: 3-3-5-3-4-4-4-4-4--34.

ANTHONY BEWS 71

OUT: 4-4-3-5-3-3-5-4-4--36. IN: 4-4-5-3-4-4-3-4-4--35.